


Luck of the Irish

by butterflycollective



Category: MASH (TV), Matt Houston (TV)
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Family, Prologue, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27539410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflycollective/pseuds/butterflycollective
Summary: Matt and CJ are stranded during a blackout in Los Angeles with some familiar faces in the present but what about the past that haunts at least one of them?Takes place some years before "A Glimmer of Twilight"
Relationships: Matt Houston/CJ Parsons





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Part of the "A Glimmer of Twlight" series
> 
> Writing these characters of Matt Houston and MASH only for fun.

_"It's 6:30 in the morning at KLOS and the day looks to be a hot one for St. Patty's Day in more ways than one, with temperatures expected to top the 90 degree mark in downtown L.A. and we've got the perfect music…"_

C.J. reached out with her hand to press the snooze button but before she started to drift back asleep, she remembered what she had to do today.

Damn, she thought as she pulled herself upright, stretching her arms to release the tension in her muscles that had remained from the previous evening. Day three of the California State Bar exam awaited her inside a decrepitated building in downtown L.A. where she and other unlicensed attorneys had been congregating to tackle the marathon test. She had lived in this rental house that a friend from her sorority days had owned for about a year since she had left Houston to join her best friend, Matt, in L.A. to work with him to continue the upward climb and outward expansion of Houston Enterprises. She had only an hour to shower and get ready to head down to complete the exam which she had been studying for the past three months. She had wanted to start preparing for it sooner but she had been busy traveling with Matt across the country and the globe promoting the company to new markets. Not that she minded traveling. She enjoyed going to different places, witnessing different cultures and meeting new people and she and Matt always had mixed business with pleasure whenever they traveled even if it were at a moment's notice. His Lear Jet was more comfortable than the First Class sections of any commercial airline and she enjoyed traveling with him wherever their business took them.

She stood up and winced as she felt a tug of pain in her abdomen. She had been feeling it the past couple days and had struck it up to nerves over the test and bad eating habits from hitting the vending machines during the testing breaks and fast food at lunch. Reaching for her robe, she thought about breakfast but didn't feel hungry this morning. The phone rang and she went looking for it.

"Hello," she said, noticing it was Matt.

"I'm just calling to wish you good luck on your last day of testing," he said.

She sat down and sighed.

"I've got to pass this test," she said, "I've worked so hard but only about a third of people who take it get a passing score."

"C.J., stop worrying about it," he said, "Of course you're going to pass it. You're the smartest attorney taking it."

She smiled despite her concern.

"You're biased, but thank you," she said, "but what if I don't?"

"Then you try again until you do," he said, "But I don't think you have anything to worry about. You'll pass it with flying colors."

"I can't appear in court for you until I do…"

"Well if you sit on that couch and worry about it, then you won't even make it to the test on time," he pointed out.

She laughed.

"True," she said, "I'd better get going."

"I'll pick you up after," he said, "I know your car is still in the shop."

"Houston…you don't have to," she said, "Ellie's going to give me a lift home."

"I want to take you out to some place special and celebrate," he said, "This is a big event in your life and I'll know you'll do fine but it's important for you to relax and have some fun when it's done."

She weakened as she always did when he put it that way.

"Okay…I'll see you later then."

They hung up and C.J. headed to the shower, her hand absently brushing her abdomen as she did.

Matt looked out from his car at the marina, wondering why he was sitting inside his car on such a beautiful morning and waiting for something to happen as he had been most of the night. C.J would berate him for not getting any sleep if she had known that he had been staking out a friend's boat. He knew he belonged at the office, dressed in a suit, sitting at his desk and signing another stack of papers but he had been unable to refuse the request of a long-time friend. So instead of spending the morning at his office building in Century City, he had dressed up in worn jeans and an old shirt and had driven down to stake out a boat, in a luxurious marina.

_"This is T-Man at KODJ 107.2 on the dial telling you that the first 10 callers for our special St. Patrick's Day getaway package will have to answer a trivia question about this popular '80s song, a real blast from the past. And speaking of blasts, we'll switch it over to our Weather Girl Janice…"_

He brought binoculars and picked them up to get a closer look at the deserted boat, which was a nice looking two-sail model with a small cabin beneath the deck. He had always wanted to do this kind of work, as a private investigator and had parlayed the skills he had picked up while working military intelligence to study for his investigator's license at night school. What he really wanted to do was to start up his own agency on the side, at least at first while he spent most of his time being a corporate businessman. Give it a try that way for a while to get his feet wet and then see how serious his workload became before perhaps, pursuing this venture full-time. He hadn't told C.J. his plans yet, but she knew of his interest having accompanied him on a stake out or two when he had needed a female companion to help him blend in with the scenery. In the past several months, she had been so busy studying for her bar exam, in part because she wanted her certification and also to figure out how better to use her legal skills to help him. Then if they both decided to go with the agency full-time, they could figure out how to break it to Murray without giving him a coronary.

Matt stretched his arms and yawned and as he did, he caught a split second of activity out of the corner of his eye. A young man was carrying a package while looking around him, as if he knew he were being watched. Another shipment of drugs that had arrived and the dealers had been using his friend's boat without his knowledge to cover up the delivery. It hadn't been personal as any boat owner could have been the victim, it was just that this young man had once crewed this boat alongside his friend in regattas that had made the revelation of his activities so painful. Matt couldn't patch up the relationship between his friend and the young man who had turned out to have criminal leanings but he could document his activities to provide proof for his friend to give to the police who had been hounding him.

Particularly a sergeant named Vincent Novelli.

Matt had several run ins with the sergeant who currently headed the division where most of Matt's few cases had been investigated and none of them had ended pleasantly. In fact on one occasion, Novelli had two patrol officers handcuff Matt and haul him to the precinct station while they searched the records for his conceal and carry weapons permit. Because the computerized registry had been reluctant to produce results all day, Matt had spent a couple hours in lockup after being interrogated by the sergeant in a conference room. Since then, he made it a point to stay out of his way, but that proved to be easier said than done and he had engaged in two arguments with Novelli when their paths crossed while Matt had been investigating other cases. After talking at him, Novelli would invariably throw up his hands and say something dramatic and final before stomping off.

Just thinking about him had Matt hoping that he could finish one case without running into him. Maybe this small assignment would prove to be it, he had believed until he had been called down to the station by his friend who had been called in to be interviewed by two brawny looking narcotics officers dressed in jeans and wearing their shields around their necks. Matt had been given a visitor's badge and then had been led into the cramped room where police held his friend for questioning. Novelli had looked up and seen him and Matt knew he was in for it.

"What's he doing here," Novelli yelled, waving his arms, "Get him out of here."

Matt folded his arms.

"I was called by this gentleman to sit with him," he said, "He's a client."

"Are you an attorney," one detective asked.

"No but I can get one here if you'd like."

Novelli looked around and glared at anyone within reach.

"Who let him in here," he asked.

None of the officers present admitted to it but looked back at Novelli. He just shook his head and stomped out of the room. Matt could hear him yelling out in the hallway, but couldn't make out all of the words he used. He sat down next to his friend while he was being questioned for a while until the sergeant returned.

"You think you're so smart," he told Matt, "but I've been a cop a while now and I've seen it all.  
Matt didn't doubt that as he watched Novelli pace, while popping some Rolaids in his mouth from a packet he kept in his shirt pocket.

"All right stay with your…client," he said, finally, "But when I return, I want you both to be gone. And keep your noses clean okay? I don't want to see either one of you again."

He shut the door behind him as he left.

Now Matt sat in his car watching and waiting for something to happen. Ready to document it if it did, and hopefully capture something that would help his friend. He kept watching the young man with a package as he prepared to board the boat. Suddenly, another man who was somewhat older arrived and the two men exchanged words but Matt couldn't understand what was being said. He picked up his long range camera and started snapping photos of them as they talked, as the younger man showed and unwrapped the package for the other man to examine and finally as they started to walk into the boat.

Matt wished he had taken more advanced photography classes while he'd been in university but he had learned the rudimentary skills when working for the military and that carried him through his investigative assignments.

Suddenly something happened that he hadn't expected. The older man pulled out a silver handgun and the younger man's expression changed and his body tensed so Matt knew that he had seen it. A popping sound filled the morning air and the younger man fell, grabbing his abdomen. The package had fallen out of his hands in the process and the older man scooped it off and tucked it underneath his arm. Matt jumped out of his car and pulling out his own gun ran towards the boat. The older man had already taken off when he arrived and the younger man looked up with intense distrust on his face.

"Get away from me," he said, while a red stain spread across his white shirt and spilled onto the wooden deck.

"Take it easy," Matt said, still with his gun out, "are you carrying?"

"What?"

"Do you have a gun?"

The younger man shook his head.

"He shot me."

"I saw it," Matt said, "Now why would he want to do a thing like that?"

The man's face twisted.

"How would I know?

"He took your package," Matt noted, as he put his gun away and knelt down to help the man and took out his cell phone.

"What are you doing," the man asked.

"Calling for help."

Ellie had dropped by as soon as C.J. had gotten dressed and ready and the two of them headed off to the testing place downtown.

"The traffic's pretty bad," Ellie said.

"It's always like this in the morning," C.J. said, "It's L.A."

Ellie grimaced.

"I'm not sure I can stay in such a densely packed city," she said, "I'm a country girl."

"So am I," C.J. said, "but my career is out here and I need to pass this bar exam."

Ellie rolled her eyes.

"You graduated the first in your class at Harvard," she said, "You kicked ass in your public defender job in Houston and you've switched to corporate law without taking a deep breath."

C.J. chuckled.

"It wasn't quite like that."

"Pretty close to it," Ellie said, "This test should be a breeze for you."

C.J. sighed.

"It hasn't been so far," she said, "It's been pretty tough."

"Don't I know it," Ellie said, "Hey, are you doing anything after we're done?"

"Matt's going to pick me up," C.J. said, "Taking me out some place to eat."

Ellie looked at C.J.

"How are you feeling," she asked, "You didn't feel good yesterday."

"It must have been a bug," C.J. said, "I feel better today."

Well, she felt a little bit better. She still hadn't felt like eating much but she chalked that up to the nerves of the final day of the bar exam and was sure she would make it up later when she went out with Matt.

Ellie honked her horn.

"Damn, this traffic is slow even for L.A.," she said, "We haven't moved in five minutes."

"We're almost there," C.J. pointed out.

She turned to look out the window and winced.

"Still hurts?"

C.J. brushed it off.

"I must have pulled a muscle in cardio class," she said, "It's been sore for a couple of days."

"Don't worry," Ellie said, "It will heal up before we go dancing this weekend."

C.J. smiled.

"I hope so," she said, "I can't wait to try out that new club in Venice Beach."

Ellie turned the car off of the street finally and into the parking lot next to the old building where they would be spending the day.

"Looks like we got here just in time to snag a good parking place," she said, pulling into a spot.

The two of them left the car and joined a crowd of others walking into the building to finish up a test that would determine the direction of their lives.

Matt felt the direction of his life take an unpleasant direction when he heard sirens and saw two squad cars followed by an ambulance pull up in the marina parking lot. Novelli stepped out of one of the cars and walked towards him. Matt could already see the expression on his face, the tension in his jaw as he approached.

"What the hell are you doing down here," the sergeant demanded.

Matt held his ground.

"Investigating a case," he said, "But then the shooting happened."

Novelli looked at the young man on the ground, who was being tended by paramedics.

"I can see that."

Matt rubbed his jaw.

"He was shot by another man who fled with a package," he said, "They had arranged to meet on the dock."

Novelli folded his arms.

"So you saw it."

"It happened right in front of me."

"Did anyone see you," Novelli said, "because this could be organized crime involved and they don't like witnesses."

Matt shook his head.

"You're going to have to come down to the station to give a statement," Novelli said, "and to give us a description of the shooter."

Matt knew that he had no choice but to do that to help the police in their investigation. The paramedics prepped the young man to be loaded into the ambulance and Matt went back to his car as the detectives arrived to set up their investigation of the shooting.

"Is he going to live," he asked Novelli.

The sergeant shrugged.

"That's up to the doctors," he said, "We'll station a cop outside his door so that no one slips through to finish the job."

C.J. tried to concentrate on the questions on her exam and blinked her eyes several times to return her focus to the page in front of her. During the past hour, she had felt as if the room had grown warmer, uncomfortably so and during the break, she had gone to buy some bottled water which she drank on the upper patio of the building. Ellie had frowned at her.

"Are you feeling okay," she said.

C.J. had placed a hand on her abdomen and sat down on a bench, suddenly feeling dizzy.

"I don't know," she said, "I'm sure I'll feel better after we're done here."

But as the morning had continued onward, she felt more dizzy and warm and the words on the page in front of her blurred. She kept trying to focus her eyes but found it difficult. She closed her eyes for a moment, and discovered that moving in her chair caused a stabbing pain to rush through her abdomen. Just a few more hours and then she could go home and crash in her bed for several days. Oh wait, Matt had offered to take her out to eat afterward. She would just call him during the lunch period and tell him she needed to take a rain check and then hitch a ride with Ellie home. But she had to make it through the rest of the most important test in her life first.


	2. Chapter 2

Matt looked at his friend after Novelli had stormed off and gestured at him to leave the conference room with him.

"I'm sure glad to get out of here," his client said, looking at his watch.

"They might call you in for questioning again," Matt warned him.

The man sighed.

"I had nothing to do with it," he said, "I swear, the kid worked for me but I never thought he would engage in illegal activity using my boat."

Matt believed his client and his friend, not having any reason not to do so. He knew that when he and C.J. looked through the pictures that Matt shot, there would be something within them to help his client. But that would have to wait until tomorrow, because he would be picking up his best friend later to take her out to celebrate the completion of her bar exam. He hoped that C.J. would be able to relax enough and enjoy herself rather than worrying about whether or not she had passed.

His phone rang.

"Excuse me," he said to his friend when he saw that it was C.J.

"Houston, I'm glad I could reach you," she said, "We're on lunch recess and Ellie and I are at a corner café."

His brow furrowed.

"Is everything all right," he said, "How's the test?"

She paused.

"It's not…too bad," she said, "It's not easy either but I think I'll be okay."

"Of course you will be," he said, "I told you all along that you have nothing to worry about. You'll pass it with flying colors."

"Maybe…" she said, "But I don't know if I can go out with you later on."

"Why not," he said, "You got another invitation?"

"No, it's not that," she said, "I just don't feel well. I think I'm coming down with something."

"Maybe it's all that studying and worrying you've been doing," Matt said, "Well, I'll give you a ride home then when you're finished."

"Houston you don't have to…"

"I want to, okay," he said, "Make sure you get home so you can get some much needed rest."

She paused again.

"Okay, I'll see you later," she said and clicked her phone off.

Matt frowned, wondering if she had gotten sick while taking the test and had stuck it out hoping to finish it. She never complained when she worked while feeling under the weather and she had put in a lot of hours working since she started working for his corporation.

"I'd better get back to my boat," his friend said as they left the station house, "Thanks a lot man."

Matt nodded and the man looked around him.

"Damn it's hot today," he said, "You'd think it was the middle of summer."

Matt agreed that it seemed unseasonably warm today and after his friend left, he decided to head back to get some lunch in Chinatown and review the invoices that Murray had left on his desk at the office yesterday afternoon. He had some catching up to do after his stakeout before Murray would call him up and ask them when they'd be finished.

He entered into the restaurant and the waiter led him to a booth. He ordered off the menu and began working on the paperwork so that he could drop it off at the office for Murray by the end of the day.

"Excuse me," a woman said.

Matt looked up and smiled at the blonde statuesque woman standing by his table.

"Michelle," he said, "What are you doing down here?"

She smiled back at him.

"I just got another job down the street," she said, "Working at a computer software firm."

Matt's brows rose.

"That's quite a change from working in retail."

She shrugged.

"I needed it," she said, "I was spending too much time on my feet in the store. I went back to take some classes and got hired right out."

"That's great," Matt said, "You look really good."

"I just back from the Bahamas with Gary," she said.

"Gary?"

She smiled.

"Oh I met him at a computer programming seminar not long after we broke up," she said, "He designs security software."

Matt nodded as the waiter brought him some food.

"Well I can see you're busy," she said, "It was great running into you Matt. Maybe we'll do lunch sometime."

Matt watched her walk away and thought back to when they had been dating in between his many business trips. After six months of barely seeing each other instead of a brief moment grabbed here and there, they had gone their separate ways. That's how it had been with him and his relationships with women. They collided with his drive to help his father make a larger success out of his corporation by expanding it globally. And given that C.J. often accompanied him on some of his trips, Matt was often left explaining that these trips were purely business to some very skeptical women.

Two waiters walked by the table.

"What's it like outside," one of them asked.

"Hotter than Hades," the other said, "Strange to see such weather for this time of year."

"Should be a great St. Patrick's day celebration at McGuinty's," the first one said, "I'm heading there after I get off from here."

"The first round will be on me," the other said.

Matt looked at his watch, before returning to his lunch and his stack of paperwork to get through before he could call it a day. In a few hours after he faxed the invoices to corporate headquarters in Houston, he would pick up C.J. to take her home with the bar exam behind her.

"It's really getting hot," Ellie said, as she took a sip from her water bottle as she and C.J. headed back to begin the afternoon session of their bar exam.

C.J. didn't answer. Ellie gave her another look over.

"You still feeling lousy," she said, "Maybe you should call it a day and go on home."

C.J. shook her head.

"It's only a few hours until we're done," she said, "I'll be fine."

Ellie looked doubtful.

"Yeah right," she said, "and then you're going straight on home."

"I told Houston I had to take a rain check," C.J. said, "I think I'm just going to sleep for a couple of days."

"So no dancing this weekend then," Ellie said, "I had some guys from the law firm I work at lined up for us."

"Maybe I'll kick this bug by then," C.J. said, rubbing her abdomen gingerly, "I sure hope so."

Both women headed into the building.

C.J. sat on a bench in the hallway waiting for Matt to arrive. The exam had ended fifteen minutes earlier and C.J. had looked down at her test papers and seen that she had completed them. She had frowned and had trouble remembering the last half hour of the test. When the proctor had collected the exams, she and Ellie had picked up their belongings and left the room with everyone else. C.J. walked slowly to stem the radiating pain.

"Are you feeling worse," Ellie asked, a worried expression on her face, "Maybe you should see a doctor."

C.J. tried to smile but another jolt of pain stopped her.

"I just need to get home and get some rest," she said, "I'm sure I'll feel better tomorrow."

Ellie didn't look so sure and asked C.J. if she wanted her to sit and wait with her for Matt to arrive. C.J. shook her head so Ellie left. She ran into Matt in the crowded highway.

"You've seen C.J.?"

"She's waiting for you," Ellie said, "but she's really not feeling well. So make sure she gets home."

He nodded and continued onward through the hallways until he spotted her sitting on a bench. She didn't see him but sat with her arms wrapped around herself. Her head rested against the wall with her eyes closed.

"C.J…"

She opened her eyes at the sound of his voice.

"You came."

He studied her face, which had broken out into a sweat leaving her hair damp off of her forehead.

"Are you okay," he asked.

She grimaced.

"I think I ate something bad last night," she said, "I just want to get home."

She picked up her things and started to go with him.

"I'll take you there," he said as they left the building to go out to his car. The sun blazed down on them as they walked towards the parking lot, with her walking a couple of steps behind him. He kept looking at her as she tried to keep up.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

She nodded.

"Let's just get out of here," she said.

Matt looked out and noticed the long line of cars that snaked out of the parking lot as other attorneys left in droves trying to put as much distance between them and the dreadful bar exam. He imagined that the nearby streets were just as crowded on this unseasonably hot day.

"I think I'm going to be sick," she said, holding her stomach.

"Right here?"

She took a few deep breaths trying to quell her nausea.

"No I think I'll be fine if we just get out of her."

They got inside his car and he pulled out of the parking lot to line up with the other cars exiting out into the street.

Nearly an hour later, they were still trying to travel down a busy street, having only gone several miles since leaving the parking lot. Matt sat waiting for the traffic light to change and the gridlocked traffic to start moving. C.J. had just spent most of the time looking out the window, hoping that the pain would abate and she would start feeling better. She rubbed her eyes when her vision began to blur.

"Where are we," she asked.

Matt looked over at her.

"About two miles away from that parking lot back there," he said, "to this parking lot over here."

She leaned back in her seat, and closed her eyes. Matt looked over at her and frowned before the car continued to inch down the street. He turned the air conditioner up to cool down the car further and she responded by curling up in the seat.

"What hurts," he asked her.

She didn't respond but he saw that her hand rested over her abdomen.

"How long has it been hurting?"

She shrugged.

"A couple a days," she said, "but not like right now."

She winced, feeling like a stiletto had struck her. He stopped at a traffic light and then reached over to feel her forehead. She flinched beneath his touch.

"What are you doing," she asked, pulling away.

"C.J. you're burning up."

"I'm just a little warm," she said, "It's a hot day."

"Yeah right," he said, preparing to turn off of the street.

She sat up and frowned at him.

"Where are we going," she said.

He shifted the car into another lane, causing several other motorists to honk at him.

"Take you to the hospital," he said, finally.

She shook her head.

"Houston I'm just not feeling well," she said, "I'll be fine when I get home."

"I'm just going to take you there to have a doctor look at you," he said, "Just to be on the safe side."

She just settled back in her seat, not saying anything else. He expected a battle but hadn't gotten one which greatly concerned him. He tried to maneuver his car into the right lane but the streets were jam packed and the cars barely inched along bumper to bumper. Occasionally he looked at her lying down, her head resting against the door.

C.J. felt the pain recede as she closed her eyes and allowed herself to be drawn away from where she sat inside the car. Her dizziness faded along with the noises of busy surroundings. Instead, she heard the sounds of birds singing in the trees which surrounded her like a canopy as she walked down the pathway.

_"Where are we going," she asked._

_An older gentleman with dark hair sprinkled with grey wearing a dark suit looked down at her._

_"Where I'm going," he said, "You can't follow."_

_"Why," she asked, as he drew further away from her._

_She kept asking but he didn't answer, looking past her. She followed his steady gaze with her own and saw the little girl with dark curly hair playing on the grass with a small puppy. She stood up, holding onto the dog and smiled up at someone._

_"Who is she," she asked the man_

_But when she turned around to look at him, he was gone._


	3. Chapter 3

Matt looked over at where she remained still next to him and he looked ahead of him at the wall of cars between him and getting closer to the hospital.

"C.J…"

She didn't answer. He looked around him to see if there was any faster path to get past the traffic jam. Cars around him honked and a couple drivers yelled at each other to get moving. Frustration filled Matt as the cars refused to inch forward. He didn't know what was wrong with her but he figured that it was probably serious enough that she needed a doctor to help her. She hadn't stirred in the past 30 minutes and he hoped she was just sleeping.

She looked up from where she sat on the back porch of a home she barely remembered. Honeysuckle intermingled with sweet pea vines and the man had returned, sitting beside her while they waited. Exactly what for, she didn't know.

_"Where are we," she asked._

_He didn't answer her so she looked out at the swing set that sat empty, next to a house that looked like it had been empty for a while._

_"This was home," she said, "wasn't it?"_

_"For a while," he said._

_She nodded._

_"Where's Mama," she said._

_And then she knew._

C.J. mumbled something inside Matt's car and he looked over at her. He looked ahead at him at the traffic again. Then he noticed that the traffic light had gone out in front of him and soon everyone else noticed too.

She sat by the stream with her fishing pole, waiting for him to come and join her. The sun shone on the water, dappling it as it flowed through the rocks. If there were a more peaceful place, she couldn't think of it. She had spent the past week working on her uncle's ranch from sunrise to sunset until she finished her days bone tired and just wanting to grab a bite to eat, take a shower and head to bed. Still, in the heat of the late afternoon, she often stole away to her favorite spot by the stream where she would sit and cast her pole into the bubbling stream, hoping for a bite and a short break away from her day's work.

Sometimes he joined her, her newly found friend who lived on the adjoining ranch with his widower father. He would sit down next to her and they would spend as much time talking as they did fishing. That day he had shared with her the story of how his father had brought him down to do some fishing when he had sequestered himself into his room as a little boy.

"Your father must really love you," she said, simply while checking her fishing line.

He had nodded.

"He's busy with his work but he always makes time for me."

"You're very lucky."

He cast his line out again, knowing that she missed her own father since his death when she had been a little girl.

"What about your uncle," he had asked.

She shrugged her shoulders.

"He didn't want a daughter or even a niece," she said, "He wanted another ranch hand."

And with that, Matt learned why she worked so hard, often much harder than anyone else when rounding cattle, mending fence or cleaning stalls in the barn.

"He never liked my father," she had explained, "because he holds him responsible for my mother leaving school and what her family wanted for her."

"What was that," Matt asked.

"To be a lawyer like my father but then she got pregnant with me."

Matt knew that was what she wanted to be when she grew up. It made her eyes light up just to talk about it while they worked together. But her father had gone from being a lawyer to a county judge and it had gotten him killed, right in front of her.

The cars inched forward uncertainly, many honking their horns until they created a cacophony of sound. Matt had noticed that the traffic lights all around had gone dark and wondered what had happened. He turned up the radio and looked for a news station.

_"It's KBOA and the mercury on this sizzling St. Patty's day is 90 degrees, so hot that the electric grids have been on overload and sporadic outages have occurred all over the City of the Angels. So far no word on when the power will be restored in the impacted areas."_

He looked down at C.J. but she still remained silent having not stirred in the past hour. Looking back out, he noticed that people had begun to get out of their cars and stand around. Some talking with each other and others arguing over why the traffic hadn't moved since the power had gone out. He looked around in frustration for a way through the traffic but nothing met him but gridlock.

"Just hang on tight C.J.," he said, "I'll find a way to get you to a hospital."

She didn't respond.

She saw him standing on the edge of the clearing, or more accurately, the outline of his shadow while she waited for her friend who finally appeared and sat beside her on the steps outside the house. Wisteria and gardenias surrounded them and Julia handed her a glass of sweetened tea.

_"So how are you feeling," C.J. asked._

_Julia sighed, sipping her tea._

_"As well as can be expected," she said, "Scott doesn't know what he's missing."_

_C.J. harrumphed._

_"He's never known or appreciated that."_

_Julia turned and looked at her._

_"You don't like him?"_

_"I think he's taking advantage of Houston…and of you."_

_Julia smiled at the protective tone in her friend's voice._

_"Why don't you tell him then?"_

_C.J. furrowed her brow._

_"Tell who?"_

_"Tell Houston the truth about his friend," Julia said._

_C.J. had paused, looking down at her glass._

_"I can't," she said, "They've known each other for years."_

_"You've known him longer," Julia reminded her._

_C.J. looked out into the garden_

_"The truth would hurt him."_

Matt finally made a decision to leave the car when he started seeing people taking advantage of the confusion over the power outage to start hitting the stores lining the street for some free merchandise. He shook C.J.'s shoulder and she tried to sit up and look at him.

"Where are we," she asked.

"Stuck in the same traffic jam," he said, "We've got to leave and find a telephone to call an ambulance to take you to a hospital."

She shook her head.

"There's no need for that," she said, rubbing her face, "I just need a few minutes…"

He shut off his car, reluctant to leave it but it clearly wasn't going anywhere for a while and C.J. needed medical attention. He left his car and went to the other side to help her step out into the street. Sweat quickly beaded on her face as she stood in the street, feeling pretty wobbly on her feet.

"I think I can make it…"

He took one look at her and scooped her off of her feet.

"Houston, put me down," she said, weakly.

"I will when we get somewhere close to a phone."

He began walking towards the sidewalk and looked for a business that still remained open so that he could use a phone. But most of the doors had been locked or the merchants would shoo him away before he could get one word out of his mouth.

Finally looking around desperately, he came to the last building on the street, which looked like it was a restaurant. He tried to reach for the handle on the door while still holding onto C.J. A waiter shook his head when he saw him.

"The restaurant's closed for the day," he said, "We have no power."

Matt just looked at him.

"We're not here for the food," he said, "I just need to use the phone."

"Sorry," the waiter said, trying to close the door.

"Listen I'll give you whatever money I've got if you'll just let me use the phone," he said, "My friend here's not feeling well and needs to see a doctor as soon as possible."

The man just shook his head and Matt reluctantly started to turn away when suddenly he heard a woman's voice.

"Leonardo what are you doing turning that couple away," the woman said.

Matt saw her appear, middle-aged and wearing a big smile on her face and an apron around her ample waist.

"Excuse me," he started.

She put her hands on her face.

"Oh my," she said, "Your wife, she is sick no?"

Matt looked down at C.J. whose eyes were closed and nodded.

"I don't know what's wrong with her," he said, "but she's gotten worse in the past hour or so."

The woman nodded and gestured for him to follow her through her restaurant with only the sunlight to illuminate it.

"I have a sofa in my office," the woman offered, "She can rest there until you can get her to a doctor."

He carried her in there and settled her gently on the couch. She barely stirred and he ran his hand through his hair looking down at her.

"She needs a doctor right now," Matt said, "Where am I going to find one?"

The woman just looked at him.

C.J. lay on the ground beneath her favorite canopy of trees, while her horse nipped at some tufts of grass nearby. She closed her eyes listening to the birds in the trees and felt the sunlight stroke her face. She knew that he stood nearby, just in the shadows.

_"I don't know what to do next," she said, "I graduated first in my class and got the scholarship but I've never been away from home before."_

_"You're on your way to being the lawyer you've always dreamed you'd be."_

_She blew a tendril of hair off her face._

_"I've still got years to go," she said, "University and then Harvard Law School…"_

_His voice sounded wistful._

_"I wish I could be there to see you make it."_

_She tried to remember the details of his face but they eluded her so she settled for her memories of the soft timbre of his voice._

_"I always felt like you were there," she said to him, "every step of the way."_

_He appeared content at that but she didn't know for sure._

_"And I like that young man, he's been a good friend to you."_

_She smiled._

_"You mean Houston," she said, "He's going there to play football so between him and Julia, we'll all be together."_

_"You'll need your friends."_

_"I'll be so busy," she said, "Working on my studies, working to pay the rest of my way, I don't have time…"_

_"You need to make time for other things in your life," he told her, "the people who matter."_

_She pondered that._

_"I guess I'm just afraid I'll lose them if I get too close."_

_He looked at her sadly._

_"I guess that's my fault."_

Matt sat with her and made sure she was as comfortable as she could be on the sofa.

"We'll get you to a doctor as soon as we can," he said.

"I can't get too close," she said.

"What C.J."

She quieted down again, while he stroked the hair off of her face. He heard some footsteps and turned around, seeing the older woman along with a couple of men. One was quite elderly with more silver in his hair than black and a younger man who looked like him at a younger age. Matt guessed they were father and son.

"There she is poor woman," the woman said told the two men, "and this is her husband."

Matt didn't bother to correct the woman. The younger man walked over and started examining C.J. He looked up at Matt.

"How long has she been like this?"

"She's been feeling sick the past couple of days," Matt said, "but she's gotten much worse the past hour or so."

C.J. opened her eyes and looked at the younger man warily.

"Who are you?"

He started examining her and noticed her flinch when he palpitated her abdomen.

"What's going on," Matt asked.

The young doctor looked up at him.

"She's got a high fever and other signs of a serious infection," he said, "And her rebound test was positive on her abdomen."

"Meaning…"

"She's got appendicitis," he said, "She's had it for a while so I'm not sure how far it's progressed."

"That's very serious isn't it," Matt said, "Is she going to need to have it removed?"

The doctor nodded.

"The sooner the better," he said, "We've got to get her to a hospital right away."

The older man turned to him.

"So what are you waiting for," he said, "Call an ambulance…"

"Dad, it's not that simple," the younger man said, "We're in the middle of a power outage and the roads are gridlocked. The hospitals might be overwhelmed with dealing with what they've got."

The older man shook his head.

"We're not in the middle of a war son," he said, "We can get her to the hospital…"

Matt looked between the two of them while they were talking.

"Who are you two anyway," he said, "I mean I know one of you is a doctor."

"We're both doctors," the younger one said, "My name's Jonathan Pierce and this is my father, Ben. We came to L.A. to attend a medical conference and we got sidetracked."

"The cab driver dropped us off here when the power went out," Ben pointed out, "But he left too quickly to charge a fare."

Matt nodded.

"I can't get my vehicle out of that traffic jam," he said, "It's like a giant parking lot out there."

Ben sighed.

"Your mother is going to be furious with me for getting us lost," he said, "She's going to know it's my fault."

"Your fault," John said, "She's probably just waiting for us at the conference."

"Why don't you call her on your phone," Ben asked.

John shook his head.

"The circuits are all busy," he said, "I can keep trying but I think the phones are going to be hit and miss until the power's restored."

Matt looked at both of them.

"We've got to find a way to get her to the hospital."

Ben nodded.

"He's right about that," he said, "If she waits too long, it will rupture and she'll get peritonitis quickly enough."

John rubbed the back of his neck.

"She might already be there," he said, "Her fever's too high for appendicitis."

"Can't we operate here?"

John just looked at his father, who was waiting for an answer.

"Dad this isn't Korea, or Vietnam," he said, "We're in the middle of L.A. not a war zone."

Suddenly they heard yelling and glass breaking from somewhere outside. Ben lifted his brows.

"Are you sure about that son?"

John just shook his head and started pacing.

"We don't have the equipment to operate, no sterilization process and no gas man," he said, "We've just got to wait and hope."

Matt didn't like that answer at all. If they did that, then his best friend might die and he rejected that possibility.

"How far is the nearest hospital," he said, "We can take her there on foot."

The two men looked at him as if he were crazy.

"About four miles," John said, "In fact, that's where the conference is being held," he said, "and it looks like it's going to be anarchy out there if the cops don't show up soon."

"We've got to do something," Matt said, "We can't just sit here and let her die."


	4. Chapter 4

C.J. followed the older man down the trail, both on horseback. She thought that had been odd not knowing that he had even known how to ride a horse but she shook her head, thinking she had just forgotten. It had been so long since she had seen him.

_"They are trying to help you, you know," he said._

_She shook her head._

_"They don't understand."_

_"That's because you won't tell them," he pointed out._

_"It's in the past," she said, "That's where it needs to stay."_

_He remained silent for a while and that left her alone with her thoughts. She had missed a life with him and didn't understand why he rode with her now as if he had never left her._

_"The past always comes back," he said, "And it can bite you like a rattler underfoot."_

_She frowned._

_"Was that what happened to you?"_

_He looked away but she thought she saw him nodding._

_"It will do the same to you if you aren't careful…"_

_She grew frustrated._

_"I don't know what you're talking about."_

_He turned his head to look at her._

_"Yes you do…"_

_She looked around her then and a fine mist had risen up from some unknown place to form a wall between them._

_"Where are you going," she called._

_"Some place you can't follow…"_

C.J lay on the couch and Matt saw her furrow her brow.

"He's gone…"

He knelt next to her.

"Who's gone C.J.?"

Hearing his voice, she nestled into the sofa. The woman who owned the restaurant had found a table spread and he had laid it over her.

"He left me…in the meadow…"

Matt had no idea what C.J. was talking about and thought it had been delirium speaking. But if she were still in pain, she didn't seem to be aware of it or of much else.

"That's from her high fever," Ben said, standing behind Matt, "She's trying to fight the infection."

"But she can't fight this," Matt said, "If she doesn't have surgery…"

"We're going to find a way to get her out of this restaurant and to a hospital," Ben said, "You have to have faith in that."

Matt stood up and ran his hand through his hair.

"How can I do that," he said, "There's no clear roads, the phones aren't working well and there's no electricity."

Ben watched him silently while Matt spoke, running through his list of obstacles.

"You're a man of action aren't you?"

Matt looked at him startled.

"Well yeah," he said, "Action's what gets things done."

Ben nodded.

"I totally agree with you," he said, "My son's like that himself but I'm a man of words myself because there are times when you can't act."

"I don't accept that," Matt said, "I'm not about to let her die."

"You care about her a great deal I can tell," Ben said, "How long have you been married?"

"Excuse me?"

"You are her husband aren't you?"

Matt shook his head.

"No we're not married," he said, "We've been close friends most of our lives."

"The operation really isn't all that complicated," Ben said, "My wife had it done. She'll come out of it just fine especially with all this modern technology we didn't have back in the day."

"We have to get her to the surgeon first," Matt countered, "and we've got no way of doing that."

"Not yet," Ben agreed, "but my son's working on it and he won't stop until he finds it."

"A chip off the old block?"

Ben shook his head.

"That's from his mother not me," he said, "I adopted him after he was born but I still think he got my looks."

_"Why are they talking about me like I'm not there," she asked as she sat in front of a fountain spraying water as high as she could see, in the middle of a garden which spread all the way to the horizon._

_"Because you're not there," a woman's voice said._

_C.J. looked behind her and saw a woman with dark hair like herself with a soft face lined only with crow's feet._

_"Then where am I?"_

_"You're with me."_

_C.J. frowned._

_"I can't be," she said, "Unless I'm…"_

_The woman shook her head._

_"No you're not…dead," she said, "But you're not back with them."_

_C.J.'s head hurt trying to think of what was being said, which didn't make sense inside her mind which had been trained in both logic and rationale._

_"Why am I here?"_

_The woman smiled and her eyes sparkled as she looked at her._

_"They are trying to help you," she explained, "And you have to want to be helped."_

_C.J. bristled._

_"I don't need anyone's help," she said, "I can handle things myself. I've had to…since…"_

_"No one can do all that C.J.," the woman said, "and you don't have to handle things alone."_

_C.J. rejected that because she knew if she wanted to be an attorney in a man's world, she had to prove her capability of handling it and the pressure that came with such a high paced career. Just like she had proven that she could handle chores on her uncle's ranch as well or better than even men older than herself. Her whole life had been about proving herself since her parents had died._

_"If I don't handle them, who will," she asked._

_"There will come a time in your life when…," the woman started and then stopped talking._

_C.J. looked at her quizzically but the woman she knew to be her mother faded away, with her soft voice drifting on a breeze. Suddenly, the clouds darkened and she knew she needed to find shelter fast before the storm arrived. She saw the outline of his form before she heard the voice that haunted her dreams._

_"You're a very beautiful woman indeed," the man said, "I've been watching you for some time…"_

_She turned around and then she screamed._

C.J. sat up suddenly.

"He's here," she said, looking towards the hallway.

Matt looked where her eyes led and saw nothing. He looked over at John who had been trying to call out on the phones again.

"She's just delirious," John said, "It's the fever talking."

C.J. still gazed at the doorway and Matt noticed that her body shook.

"Is that the fever too?"

John walked over to where they both were and felt C.J.'s head and her neck, noting that her blouse was drenched in sweat.

"She's heading into peritonitis," he said, "The infection will only worsen as the toxins spread through her system."

"How much time do you think we have?"

John sighed.

"Not as much time as we need."

Matt went over to the window and looked outside. What he saw shocked him, as people ran by the window screaming and carrying what appeared to be merchandise from the local stores. The restaurant owner came into the room just then followed by two burly men.

"Ah it is crazy outside," she said, "All those hoodlums running around robbing stores."

Matt nodded.

"I was in a country in the Far East on a mission when its government changed hands," he said, "It looked something like this."

The woman threw up her hands.

"But this is a free country, no," she said, "The best in the world where everything is possible. What is this world coming to?"

Matt couldn't answer that question.

"I don't know," he said, simply.

The woman's face softened.

"How is your wife doing," she asked.

Matt didn't feel like correcting her assumption.

"She's holding her own," he said, "but we need to get her help."

The woman shook her head.

"It's not even safe to go outside," she said, "This reminds me of home back in the day when I was a little girl and the world had gone mad."

"What about people breaking in here," John asked.

The woman shook her head.

"I've got some big strong men guarding all the doors," she said, "They should be able to keep the riff raff out. They're not as good as my son but he's got his hands full trying to bring order to this city."

"Your son is a cop," Matt asked.

She nodded.

"The best cop in L.A.," he said, "Though it embarrasses him when I say that. He's given his wife only four sons…He's what you call an under…underachiever."

She shook her head and left the room. Matt walked back to where C.J. lay more with her eyes closed and her forehead smooth.

"How is she," he asked.

"She was saying something about some man who she thought was here," Ben said, "Didn't seem like she liked him very much."

Matt didn't know who that man might be but he had realized in the past several years there were parts of her life that she had kept hidden from him. Maybe this man had to do with that missing chapter in her life.

"She's not even aware that she's here," he said.

Ben sighed.

"It's difficult to say where she is now," he said, "but if she doesn't get to a surgeon, she might not be reached at all."

C.J. thought she had run away from the man who haunted her, as she stopped in the middle of the road. Her heartbeat resounded in her ears and each breath took effort. She looked around for him but she thought she had lost him. He had been one step behind her for so long. Up ahead she thought she saw Julia and Jonathan…what was he doing here? Then she remembered about the fire they had left behind them.

_"Come this way," a voice called, which sounded like that of a child._

_Looking ahead, she saw a little girl with dark wavy curls, similar to the one she had seen earlier only now she looked a bit older, maybe six or seven. She followed the little girl without thinking, something pulled her in her direction._

_"Who are you," C.J. asked._

_The little girl giggled, her brown eyes sparkling._

_"I'm Gracie."_

_Then she ran off while C.J. tried to follow her, feeling like her life depended it, or perhaps that of the little girl._

Matt watched as John tried the phone again to reach the hospital where his mother waited for them and were surgeons were who would operate on C.J. and save her life. He heard her stir in whatever sleep had taken her and he knelt down beside her.

"It's going to be all right," he said, "We're going to get you to a doctor as soon as we can."

She opened her eyes and he didn't know if she saw him.

"I've got to get away," she said, "I've got to find Gracie…"

"Who's Gracie," he said.

"Got to find her before it's too late…"

Matt didn't know what to say to that so he settled for stroking her hair off of her face.

"We'll find her," he said near her ear.

He didn't know what else to do. He was pretty sure wherever she was now, he couldn't follow.

Ben waited for his son when he got off the phone. John just shook his head.

"The circuits are all busy," he said, "That's all I keep getting."

"Everyone's probably trying to use the phones," Ben said, "to reach their loved ones."

John looked over at Matt.

"I don't know what to tell him Dad," he said, "that his friend's going to die of something that should never take a life in the 21st century?"

"She looks like a strong woman," Ben noted, "Like your mother had to be when you were born."

John looked up at Ben.

"When my father had left her," he said, "and she found you again."

Ben nodded.

"We've raised a fine son and a great doctor," Ben said, "and you'll find a way to take your skills that you've been given and save this woman's life."

Matt knew they were talking across the room but stayed focus on C.J. who had slipped back under again and when the restaurant owner came up to ask how she was faring, he didn't know what to tell her.

"The phone's dead," the woman said, "The circuits must have all blown out or something."

Matt nodded, not knowing what to add to that. The woman put her hand on his shoulder.

"You must really love your wife," she said, "She's a lucky lady to have someone like you…and not bad to look at almost as handsome as my son."

"Yeah well, I'm at a loss of what to do," he said.

She shook her head.

"Not easy for you to admit that, no," she said, "You big and strong men think you can control everything in life but you can't."

"There's got to be a way to get her to the hospital."

The woman sighed.

"In this traffic," she said, throwing up her hands, "and with that riff raff running around out here. At least they can't get in here."

Matt realized that it was mayhem outside right now and that the police officers in this city had their hands full with trying to keep everything under control until the electricity was restored. He didn't know how long that would take but experience had taught him that restoring power could be measured in hours and in some cases days, and not minutes. She only had a couple of hours at most left before succumbing to the infection racing through her body. And since she had lost consciousness, she had been saying words that made no sense. This Gracie for example, who was she, was C.J. remembering something from her childhood, or a case that they had both worked on? He shook his head and returned to her.

Where are you, he said to himself, stroking her hair, how can I get you to come back to me.

_"I'm here," C.J. heard the little girl say, "Why can't you find me?"_

_She looked around from where she stood in the clearing of some woods but couldn't see her. She did see Julia sitting on a rock near the bubbling stream that looked suspiciously like the one she had spent so much time sitting by while growing up on her uncle's ranch._

_The other woman looked at her when she approached. Julia had been sick from her second round of chemotherapy when C.J. had last seen her but she looked healthier here though what looked like reproach knit her brow._

_"I'm looking for a little girl," C.J. said._

_Julia didn't question her but just nodded._

_"I haven't seen Gracie," she said, "Maybe she's with her father."_

_C.J.'s brows shot up._

_"I didn't think of looking there."_

_Julia shrugged._

_"Why would you," she said, "You're pushing everyone away from you."_

_C.J. felt defensiveness fill her._

_"Why do you say that?"_

_"That's why she's here," Julia continued, "to make sure that you let them help you."_

_C.J. felt totally lost in this confusing world that surrounded her, like the little girl that had fallen down the rabbit hole. Alice, her name was, she remembered from reading the book as a child._

_"How would she know," she said, "She's just a little girl."_

_Julia rolled her eyes._

_"Whose survival is at stake."_

C.J. didn't know anything about that but her friend's words alarmed her.

_"What's going on here," she asked, "Where am I?"_

_"Why you're in L.A. silly," Julia said, "You moved there to work with Matt in his company."_

_C.J. frowned._

_"Oh yeah that's right," she said, "I had to take that test."_

_Julia shrugged again._

_"That's just a test," she said, "This is life."_


	5. Chapter 5

C.J. opened her eyes to see an elderly man sitting next to her, tucking a blanket or something around her.

"You're awake," he said, quietly.

She looked around her at the room.

"Where is she?"

"You mean the owner of the restaurant," Ben said, "She's…"

"No, not here," C.J. said, "The little girl…Julia told me she might be with her father."

Ben put his hand on her forehead.

"You've got a really high fever," he said, "That can make you think about things that don't make a lot of sense. Of course enough Scotch can do that too as I found out back in the day…"

"Who are you?"

Ben smiled.

"My son and I are both doctors," he said, "We're stranded here just like you and your friend."

C.J. remembered suddenly.

"Houston," she said, "Is he still here?"

"He's trying to find a way to get you to the hospital," Ben said, "He's very determined when it comes to you."

She smiled softly.

"Sounds like him," she said, "He's like that with all his friends."

"Then he must run around tired all the time," Ben said, "taking care of everyone."

She lay there on the sofa, thinking that was just like him. Matt returned in the room and saw that she was awake.

"C.J…how are you feeling?"

She just looked at him, making out his outline among the haze.

"I'm just so tired…"

He felt as if she were slipping away from him.

"You just got to hold on until we can get you to a hospital," he said, "Can you do that for me?"

She struggled to get the words out.

"I can try," she said, "but I have to find her…"

She slipped away again.

The woman called to her from a distance and C.J. looked up and saw the woman she now knew to be her mother standing by the fountain.

_"Why are you still here," her mother asked._

_"I'm looking for her," C.J. said._

_Her mother nodded._

_"Gracie," she said, "She's with her father now."_

_C.J. felt confusion fill her that everyone here knew the rules of this world except for her._

_"Who is she?"_

_Her mother smiled._

_"Ask your heart that question and it will answer…"_

She pondered that and then looked up and saw that her mother had left her again. The pang of that loss hit her with less strength than it had when she had been a little girl. A child who had lost both of her parents within a short time and after spending a year in limbo as a ward of the state, had been packed off to live with some uncle she had never met. She closed her eyes at the memory and opened them and found herself sitting on the grass with her best friend in the world.

_"Penny for your thoughts," he asked her._

_She smiled._

_"I'm going to miss this place."_

_At first he looked confused at her words but then he nodded._

_"When we go to college next week…"_

_She frowned, thinking no, that wasn't it. Feeling herself getting pulled away in another direction than where she had been going. Suddenly she felt the uncertainty return again._

_"I'm not sure I'm ready for all that," she said, looking straight out at the bubbling water._

_He looked at her oddly._

_"C.J., you were the top of your graduating class," he reminded her, "You were elected to more honor societies than anyone can remember and you have it in your heart that you're going to be a lawyer."_

_She remembered that part of her dream._

_"I want to make a difference in the world," she said, "Julia and I are going to start a law firm to help women when we graduate from Harvard."_

_She listened to herself repeating those words, sounding so set in the direction that her life had been going but fate still had a few surprises for her. But on that afternoon she had sat with Matt by their favorite spot, his words had made her feel better again._

_"And look at you," she said, "You're going to be a star football player," she said, "You'll even lead the team to the Cotton Bowl."_

_He had smiled at her confidence in him. He hadn't even been sure that the coaches there would even let him play first string or whatever it was called at the university level. But he loved to play and once the ball got in his hands, he could take it anywhere and had, on every any piece of green turf you put a game on._

_"You'll have a front row seat if I do go," he promised, "That is if you can find time in your busy schedule…"_

_She slapped his arm._

_"Of course I will," she said, "I would never miss it for the world."_

_He had smiled at her in a way that had made her go warm inside. Sometimes she wished that he saw her as someone besides his best friend who he would look at but not touch, not in the way that sometimes she wished he would. He caught her stare and raised a brow, and she had just shrugged and picked up a couple of small stones to toss into the brook where they cut the surface before disappearing underneath. All had seemed right in the world as they sat beneath the soothing blanket of the sun and then she closed her eyes feeling the breath of a soft wind on her face._

_She opened them and found that Matt had disappeared and she stood in an area surrounded by rose bushes. She looked around the garden that seemed to run for miles for the little girl and then suddenly darkness fell and she found herself inside an old house and heard noise coming from the other room. Finally he appeared, beside her like a dark shadow._

_"Come with me," he said, "Like you promised."_

_He grabbed her arm and led her out of the hallway to the other room which was dimly lit._

_"I'm only doing this to save my friends."_

_He stroked her bare arm once he had her inside._

_"I know…"_

Matt watched her as she lay on the sofa, her brow furrowed as she remained some place far away from him. Ben walked over to him and handed him some ice tea.

"It's warm because the refrigeration's down," he said, "but it should keep us from drying out in this heat."

Matt took the glass.

"It's not usually this hot this time of year," he noted, "That's probably why the power went out."

They both went and sat in some chairs near the desk.

"You know, we used to face power outages all the time in the war," Ben said, "Well the brass and politicians called it a police action but we all knew we were caught in the middle of a war."

"It must have been rough," Matt said, "I saw some action when I served but I was military intelligence."

"We saw boys that looked barely old enough to shave or drive a car or go to the senior dance," Ben said, "But old enough to be sent over there to kill or be killed."

"My wife, she was over there too," Ben said, "She handled it much better than I did."

John walked over to where they sat.

"No luck with those phone lines," he said, "The lady who owns the restaurant has a battery powered radio and the latest news is that the power won't be restored for hours."

Matt ran his hand through his hair.

"She hasn't got hours," he said.

"The 911 system is overwhelmed anyway," John said, "That's what the radio said."

Matt looked over at C. a total loss of what to do.

C.J. didn't know what went on in that world far away from where she now stood. She had returned to the garden where she sat on a bench with the older woman who had returned.

_"I didn't want to go with him," she told her, "but I had promised."_

_The woman's eyes were compassionate._

_"You were trying to help your friends," she said, "He left you no choice."_

_"He had his hands on me and he was kissing me," C.J. said, "Telling me how good it could be with him but I wasn't listening."_

_"It wasn't your fault," the woman said, smoothing her daughter's hair._

_C.J. remembered his breath tasting of liquor and his body of expensive cologne, which threatened to smother her in its grasp. The sound of him unzipping her dress and the cool air striking her skin as his hands slipped inside it to stroke her body while she closed her eyes. Her back pressed against the cold plaster of the wall by his own while she tried not to look up at him._

_"And then I heard voices," she said._

_"The men who had come in the house…"_

_"I thought they were there to save us," C.J. said, "but they came to save him."_

_The hallways seemed to stretch out forever while she ran down them and the walls, to recede. Flames and thick clouds of smoke followed her as she banged on different doors listening for any signs of her friends. Her eyes watered and her throat felt like it had been rubbed raw by sandpaper until she finally heard what she had been waiting for behind one of them._

_"We're inside here…"_

_She looked at it helplessly, after she yanked on the door knob and found it wouldn't budge. And behind her the flames advanced, imprinting her back with a wave of heat that melted away the sensations of the man's hands on her skin but not the memories._

_"I've watched over you every step of your life," the woman told her, "We both have and we couldn't be more proud of what you've become."_

_C.J. just looked at her mother, still not believing she was there._

_"I wished you were there," she said. "I've missed you both so much."_

_Her mother sighed and it floated on the breeze._

_"You've had your friends…"_

_C.J. nodded, knowing that but a huge piece of her life had been missing. Something that nothing nor anyone else could fill within her._

_"I still feel so alone sometimes."_

_Her mother continued to stroke her hair, the way that she knew she must have loved as a child if only she could still remember._

_"You're not alone," her mother said, "You have a man sitting right beside you right now who loves you and wishes you'd come back to him."_

_C.J. looked around her in the garden but saw no one else._

_"Not in this world," her mother said, "in the one you left."_

_"You mean Houston?"_

_Her mother smiled._

_"He'd give you his own life if he could," she said, "You are that special to him."_

_C.J. just looked around her._

_"It's peaceful here," she said, "so unlike the other world."_

_Her mother tempered her reproach with loving patience._

_"This isn't where you belong," she said, "You've got a long life ahead of you with people who love you."_

_C.J. turned to look at her mother._

_"But what about you?"_

_"I had a very happy life with your father," she said, "I wish it had been longer but that's just the way the cards are dealt."_

_"It's not fair."_

_"Life's not fair," her mother said, "but it's still there to live as you choose."_

_Her mother's eyes shifted towards something and C.J. saw the little girl named Gracie sitting on the lawn playing with a stuffed frog that looked worn around the seams._

_"What about her life," C.J. asked._

_"The future remains unwritten," was her mother's answer before she left her again._

Matt put the damp cloth on C.J.'s forehead and wiped her face. It didn't do much to drop her fever but he felt helpless standing around there unable to do anything to help her. John had examined her again and just shook his head.

"She's clearly heading towards septicemia," he said, "If she doesn't get to a surgeon in under two hours, she'll have no chance at all."

Matt just stared at the doctor.

"The rest of her organs will start shutting down," John said, shaking his head, "At least she can't feel anything."

She hadn't stirred at all in the past hour and Matt had just sat by her feeling totally defeated. He had prayed several times that her life be saved but didn't know if anyone listened.

"She doesn't have any living relatives," he said, "I'm the closest thing to family she's got."

Ben came over and the elderly man patted his shoulder.

"Don't give up," he said, "Many a time I've been amazed by the human spirit and what it can overcome."

John shook his head.

"Dad, it's peritonitis" he said, "You know what that means."

Ben threw his son an irritated glance.

"Your mother and I were told by doctors you wouldn't live to see the sun come up," he said, "but here you are, and a doctor to boot. But you need to work on having more faith. We didn't raise you to make the same mistake that doctor did about you."

That silenced his son.

"Those were some very difficult first hours," Ben said, "but neither your mother nor I have felt anything but having joy from you being in our lives ever since."

Suddenly the woman who owned the restaurant came rushing in, excitement on her face.

"Come quick," she said to Matt, "My son's on the radio. He wants to talk to you."

Matt looked at the two other men, wondering what it could be but he quickly followed the woman to the kitchen area. She picked up a police radio and handed it to him. He looked at it in surprise, not sure what to do next.

"My son the police officer gave it to me in case I needed help in an emergency," she explained, "I don't know why I didn't think of it before."

Matt heard static emitting from the radio.

"Hello…"

A male voice answered him.

"Are you the man in my mother's restaurant," he said, "the one with the sick wife."

Matt didn't bother to correct him either but relief filled him.

"Yes I'm him," he responded, "She's got appendicitis really bad and has to get to a hospital right now."

"We're pretty strapped right now," the man said, "but we've got a couple of guys who can fly out in a helicopter and pick her up. Take her to the closest hospital. We'll notify someone there that she's coming."

Matt felt his body nearly go weak.

"Thanks so much," he said, "We'll be waiting here until they arrive."

The officer said fine, and quickly hung up. Matt held onto the police radio for a moment, wondering why the man's voice sounded kind of familiar.


	6. Chapter 6

After Matt got off the police radio, he felt a bit lighter as if a load had been taken away from him. He returned to where C.J. lay on the couch and sat beside her, stroking her brow. John had been examining her and told Matt that her pulse had weakened and had grown thready.

"The police are going to send a helicopter to pick her up," Matt told him.

John just looked at his patient and then at Matt.

"It had better be quick."

_C.J. felt the warm breeze caress her face as she thought about what her mother had told her. That she had to live her life and embrace its blessings and challenges without looking back. But C.J. felt torn with a huge part of her wanting to remain with her parents who she had just found after years spent living without them. She felt the love that they shared for her, covering her like a security blanket. She didn't want to lose what they had given her. The future remained unwritten, her mother had reminded her. Meaning her life still would be whatever she made of it if she had the courage to go back to it. She pictured Matt on the other side of the divide which separated them from each other, sitting by her bed and asking her to return. She felt the warmth of his hand wrapped around her own, even in this world._

_She had wrapped her arms around his chest while he drove his motorcycle down the windy road to the beach house where they would spend the weekend just hanging out, leaving the hectic world of their lives behind. The ocean breeze whipped through them and she felt grateful that he had given her his leather jacket to wear. They had stopped at a roadside diner and had eaten lunch at a table with an umbrella outside, already caught up in their plans for the weekend. He had offered up the trip to cheer her up after her argument with her current boyfriend, Jonathan._

_When they reached the house, they had dropped off their things and ran out to the beach, crashing into the surf while still wearing their traveling clothes, rinsing off 200 miles of dust and exhaust. Visions of them walking at the edge of the surf, sailing out in the ocean which resembled spun glass and dancing at an impromptu beach bonfire. Heading back, she had taken off her shoes and carried them while he had taken her hand in his and held it as they walked back on the beach to the house._

_"The moon's going to be really beautiful tonight."_

_She looked up to where it sat on the purplish horizon, glowing a pale shade of orange as it began its journey up the sky._

_"It's almost as big as back home," she said, "but it's sure pretty out there on the ocean."_

_"Not as pretty as you."_

_She turned around and looked at him in surprise and next thing she knew she had fallen into his embrace and he had started kissing her. His lips caressed her own and she found her arms wrapping around his waist bringing him closer to her. It didn't feel strange at all to be wrapped up in him but very natural, almost unnervingly so. She slipped her hands underneath his shirt and the muscles of his back quivered beneath her touch._

_"C.J…"_

_"Don't say anything…"_

_That vision faded much too quickly and had been replaced by one which showed the both of them back at the beach house sitting on the deck, listening to the waves crash against the rocks._

_"Look I'm sorry," she had told him, "I don't know what came over me."_

_"I'm not complaining C.J.," he said, "And it's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault. It just happened."_

_Actually not much had happened besides one incredibly steamy kiss but she still felt as if she had betrayed somebody._

_"We might be fighting," she said, "but I'm still with Jonathan."_

_"Okay…"_

_"We're going to work things out as soon as we cool off," she said, "We always do."_

_Matt poured himself another drink._

_"I had no attention of coming between the two of you," he said, "But I'm not going to lie and say I didn't enjoy it."_

_So did she, C.J. thought feeling guilty about that but she would make it up to her boyfriend when she returned to Boston._

_"Are you going to tell him," Matt asked._

_She considered it and then slowly shook her head._

_"I don't want to hurt him."_

But she had hurt him, even though she had never told him what had nearly happened between herself and her best friend. Her friendship with Matt had always been a sore spot in her relationship with the men in her life including Jonathan. When they finally had called it off, she had felt incredibly sad about the death of that relationship with him because a part of her did really love him, but she had also felt a weight lifting off her shoulder. For a long time, she had felt guilty about that.

_"I really did love him," she said, sensing her mother's presence in the garden even if she couldn't see her. She felt her mother's loving caresses in the breezes which danced around her as she stood among the endless rows of flowers all around her._

_"Loved who," a familiar voice said._

_She turned around and saw Matt and wondered how he had found her here._

_"I was looking for you," was all he told her._

_"I was with my parents…"_

_"I know," Matt said, "I used to come here to visit my mother. I always thought I was dreaming but maybe there really is a place where we can see those who love us."_

_She smiled at that thought._

_"I really miss my parents," she said, "I thought if I didn't think about them, I would forget what they looked like."_

_But she realized that hadn't been true at all. Love, after all, didn't need a visual memory, or that of sound or smell. It had instinctually drawn her to the right corner of the vast garden that spread out in front of them as far as the eye could see. She knew she didn't explain that to Matt because after all, he had found her._

_He reached for her hand and grasped it, the warmth of his body flowing through her fingertips which wrapped around his own. She felt her own heart beat a little bit faster._

_"You need to come back with me," he said._

_She felt conflicted when he asked that and bit her lip, considering it._

_"It's so beautiful here," she said, "I don't think I want to leave or that I can…"_

Matt held her hand in his own, trying not to notice how cool her skin felt against his own.

"How much longer until they get here," he had asked, mostly himself.

Ben sat nearby and watched Matt trying to persuade C.J. not to slip away again. He admired the devotion the young man clearly displayed for his friend and wondered if he were aware of the depth of his earnestness. But that's how it had been with him and his own wife. It had literally taken them years to figure out that they were in love with each other. Years and obstacles that life had thrown in their path. Events that might have torn most couples apart but in a strange way had brought them closer together. John had begun as one of those obstacles to survive and had wound up becoming his oldest son, who couldn't be any closer to him than if he were related by blood like Ben's three other children.

He patted the young man on the shoulder.

"She'll make it," he said, "She knows that she has too much to live for to give it all up now."

Matt turned around and faced him, his eyes reddened.

"I'd give anything for that to be true."

Ben knew that he spoke the truth but he also knew that even when the odds were against it, often life prevailed over death. Not as often as he would have liked, but often enough to have some faith in the future, if only to be proven wrong.

"Love is an amazing thing," Ben said, "It can get you through just about anything."

Matt felt resigned, too much so for the man's words to sink in too deeply but at that point, he wanted to grasp onto any remnant of hope that existed, like a man in a swirling ocean with only a life preserver to keep him afloat.

"John came to my life in a difficult way," Ben said, "His mother had been in a relationship with his father, a close friend of mine but he had been married and had gone back to his wife…"

"I'm sorry," Matt said, simply.

Ben just nodded and continued.

"When we met up at a seminar, one thing led to another and we wound up together," he said, "and then when she was ready to move to my hometown to take a job, she found out she was pregnant."

"That must have been difficult," Matt said, "My father and mother were together until she died not long after I was born. I think he still misses her so much that it's difficult for him sometimes to look at me."

Ben nodded.

"I think that's how John feels even though his father didn't die," he said, "But he's not really involved in his life. He's got three other kids to think of which took me years to understand and forgive him."

John walked on over with the woman who owned the restaurant.

"The police just radioed back," he said, "The helicopter should be here to pick her up in the next couple of minutes."

Matt felt a wave of relief fill him at the news and he turned back to C.J. to tell her that and to hold on a while longer.

_"You can't stay here," Matt told her._

_She seemed taken aback at his words and the tone that carried them._

_"What do you mean," she said, "I've just gotten to know my parents again. I can't leave them now."_

_He looked around at the beauty that surrounded the two of them._

_"This is a beautiful place," he said, "but it's not your world."_

_She frowned at that, remembering what her mother had told her._

_"You've got to come back with me."_

_She folded her arms and shook her head._

_"I'm not ready to go back," she insisted, "and you can't force me."_

_Matt looked at her, detecting that stubbornness of hers in her voice._

_"I don't have a choice," he said, "I can't lose you."_

_She looked at him, puzzled._

_"How could you ever lose me," she said, "I've always been there."_

_He knew that but this was different. This place where they stood wasn't where either of them belonged, he didn't know why that was true but he believed it more than almost anything at that point._

_"This isn't where we're supposed to be C.J.," he said, forcing patience into his voice, "Our place is elsewhere. I've just started a new corporate office and you've just completed your bar exam."_

_She furrowed her brow._

_"I thought all that was important, I did," she said, "but none of it matters if you don't have any family to share it with and my family's here."_

_He detected the sadness in her voice and wanted to reach out and brush it away but realized it wasn't that easy. It had taken a lifetime to build, when he hadn't been paying attention to it._

_"You've got me," he started, "You've got Daddy and his family…"_

_She looked away._

_"But I've got my parents here," she said, "If I go back…"_

_"They're not going to be there," he finished, "but that's not true, they'll be right where they've always been…in your heart every step of the way."_

_She thought about that and he caught a smile trying to form on her lips but her eyes remained dark._

_"It's a tough world to return to," she said, shaking her head, "Julia's very sick, I feel lost in L.A. and miss Texas and I'm…afraid of him…"_

_He frowned._

_"Afraid of whom."_

_But she just looked away, lost to him again._

The men entered the darkened room in a rush and he turned his attentions away from her, while she tried to straighten up her dress. He caressed her face and told her he'd be back before he let her go. She hoped that whoever these men were, they would take him away and he wouldn't come back and she could find Julia and Jonathan and get them out of there. She ran down the hallway, not looking behind her lest she see him looking for her. Instead of hearing her friends calling for her, she heard the voice of a little girl, one that sounded like Gracie who still remained a mystery to her. Something from deep inside of her told her to respond to the girl's call.

_"Where are you," she yelled, trying to see through the thick smoke which caused her eyes to water. It was all she could do to keep them open. She heard men's voices but they didn't seem to be approaching. She saw something on the floor just ahead of her and when she reached for it, she saw that it was Gracie's stuffed frog._

_"We've got to get you out of here," a familiar voice said._

_C.J. looked up, stunned to see Matt standing in front of her in the hallway. Confusion filled her._

_"What are you doing here," she said, "You're supposed to be overseas…"_

_He didn't seem to hear what she told him but he grabbed his arm as if to tell her it was time to go, to leave and return with him. The pull he exerted was strong but she felt something else…The draw of the place where she had come looking for answers. She wanted to stay until she found them._

_"Hurry, we've got to get you out before it's too late," Matt said._

_She started to follow him before hearing Gracie's voice again calling from some unknown place. Matt kept pulling her towards an exit bathed in light which penetrated the darkness of the hallway._

_Still, she felt drawn to the little girl in her dreams, even when she couldn't see her._

Matt walked with her as some men carried her to the helicopter which had set down in the parking lot of the restaurant. Joining him outside were the two doctors and the restaurant owner. The men loaded C.J. onto the helicopter as its rotors spun filling the air with a deafening noise that made conversation difficult.

"These men, they will help your wife," the woman said.

Matt thanked her for her help and before he climbed on the helicopter to join C.J., he asked for her name.

"Rosa Novelli," she said, "but you can call me Mama."

L.A. had just gotten a lot smaller.


	7. Chapter 7

Rosa Novelli.

The name hit Matt again as he sat beside C.J. inside the cramped space of the helicopter. Matt didn't much care for them unless he piloted them. A psychologist he had once dated told him it was because he feared situations he could not control. At any rate, this flight his attention had been focused on C.J. who lay there on the stretcher while a medic worked on keeping her alive to make it to the hospital where a surgeon could remove her appendix which had likely ruptured at some point during the third day of her bar exam.

"BP, is 90/60 and remaining steady, pulse is 140," the medic read into a phone, "She's developing abdominal rigidity in the right lower quarter and her body temp is around 105.5."

Matt frowned when he heard the medic speaking knowing that the vital signs weren't good.

"Saline solution…D5W… with a strong antibiotic," the medic continued, "Will there be a surgeon when we arrive? Good…she doesn't have much longer…"

C.J. began to stir on the stretcher, moving her arm while the medic tried to attach an IV bottle.

"I can't find my way…" she said, her eyes still closed.

And she couldn't through the smoke of the building which left her nose and lungs feeling like they had been rubbed raw with broken shards of glass. She coughed but the pain still permeated through her and her eyes stung, feeling raw.

_"Where am I," she said, not being able to feel more than a few feet in front of her, "Houston?"_

_"I'm right here," he said, "just in front of here but we've got to get out of here before it's too late."_

_The fire licked the sides of the walls in the hallway and the wallpaper released trails of smoke before igniting. The voices of the men had receded and no longer followed her down the endless hallway. She saw the open doorway ahead out into what looked like intense sunlight. She saw the outline of a figure and thought she knew its name._

_"Daddy," she said, "I can't find my way out of here. Can you help me?"_

_He shook his head._

_"You can't come this way," he said, "You've got to trust him."_

_Her brows furrowed as sooty ash began to drizzle down like dirty rain. She shook her head._

_"No Daddy," she said, "I'm afraid to go that way. What if it leads me back to where I started?"_

_He still shook his head._

_"I love you daughter," he said, "and that means saying goodbye."_

_She felt herself being pulled in his direction like a current had caught her up in its flow, but she felt someone pulling on her arm._

_"C.J. you have to come with me," he said, "The way out is over here…"_

_But she pulled away even harder and broke free, determined to keep moving towards the lightened doorway and the man she had spent most of her life seeking._

Matt felt the helicopter land with a gentle thud on the roof of a large building and then activity exploded as more medics came and unloaded the stretcher with C.J. on it.

"How's the generator holding up," the medic asked a doctor.

"It's doing its job," the doctor said, "We've got an assembly line going through ER."

"This one can't wait," the medic said, "Probably ruptured appendix and early stages of peritonitis."

The doctor nodded and ordered the others to take her inside the building. Matt started to follow but the doctor stopped him.

"This is as far as you go," he said, "There's a waiting room off the surgical wing."

"Is she going to make it," he asked.

The surgeon paused.

"We're going to do everything we can to insure she has the best shot to come out of this," he said, "but it depends on how much the infection has advanced."

Matt nodded and watched the medical team until it disappeared behind the double doors.

_C.J. watched Matt move away from her._

_"Don't go," she said, "I just want to say goodbye to him."_

_Matt's face looked anxious but she saw patience there too._

_"You don't have much time," he said, "but I won't leave without you."_

_And that shook her into action because she knew if he stayed, he might die with her, if the building collapsed under the weight of the fire. So she looked at the outline that was her father one last time and said that she loved him._

_He told her the same thing and then told her to go._

_"Come with me," Matt said, and she felt his hand slip in hers. It felt warm and comforting and she followed him down the hallway dodging panels of burning wood that fell around them._

_She felt the rush of cool air reach her._

_"We're almost there," she said, "I think it's just ahead."_

_Matt looked around._

_"Have you seen Gracie," he said, "Is she safe or do we need to find her?"_

_The answer to that question arose from her heart, in the language of quiet certainty._

_"If we get out of here, so shall she."_

Matt sat in the waiting room, a cup of cooling coffee sitting next to him. The vending machines had been out but a nurse had brought him a cup from the break room. He had gone to the chapel to pray a bit and felt some comfort from being inside the sanctuary. After about an hour, he looked up and saw that Ben had joined him, sitting down in a nearby chair with a weary sigh.

"Ben's talking with the nurses to find out how much longer until we hear anything," Ben said, "How are you holding up?"

"As well as I can I guess," Matt said, "It's the not knowing anything that always makes waiting so hard."

Ben nodded.

"I heard that so much when I was serving in Korea," he said, "You see the soldiers on the front lines get really close to each other, like a family and often they'll wait for hours or days if they can to find out how their squad mates are doing."

Matt looked at his coffee cup.

"I never served in a war," he said, "I did see some action in the Far East but I stuck to military intelligence."

Ben smiled.

"I always considered that an oxymoron myself," he said, "No offense."

"I take it, you didn't support the war…"

"They never labeled it a war back then," Ben said, "It was always called a police action but it was war."

Matt nodded.

"How's your wife faring?"

Ben smiled.

"I called her on one of those cell phones," he said, "Margaret, my wife was a bit worried when she didn't hear from us but she's back at the hotel hanging out by the swimming pool."

"Thanks for waiting with me," Matt said.

The other man looked at him, and Matt could tell he had spent a lot of his life waiting in one way or another.

"No problem," Ben said.

C.J. approached the door where the breeze had originated and tried to force it open.

"We'll need to get out the window," Matt said.

She nodded, trusting him and he led her to a window and together, they forced it open causing the darkening air to rush right inside. She felt the hint of rain.

"You go first," he said, and she did and then turned around to wait for him to join her. They ran across the grass, their hearts racing and their ears pounding as the building finally collapsed on itself behind them. She fell in the damp grass after her legs had gone limp and he joined her, cradling her against him and holding on tight.

"We're safe," he said to her over and over and closing her eyes to the sound of his voice, she believed him.

Matt looked up when he heard the tired surgeon who had lowered his facemask approach behind John and he rushed forward to meet him.

"How is she," he said in a hurry.

The surgeon gave him a tired smile.

"She survived the removal of her appendix but she's still got to fight off that infection," he said, "I think she's strong enough to make it but it will be touch and go for a while longer."

Relief filled Matt in a way that almost overwhelmed him.

"Can I see her?"

The surgeon considered that before he relented.

"Okay, but only for a minute."

Matt had walked in to where she lay in a hospital bed hooked up to various pieces of equipment all purposed to keep her alive until she rallied to recover on her own. She appeared more peaceful than she had earlier, her face less flushed. He sat down beside her and grabbed her hand, rubbing it between his own two hands. She didn't respond but he stayed there anyway telling her quietly how much she meant to him and how much she needed to fight to return to those people who loved her.

A couple of times he thought he felt her hand squeeze his own but thought he imagined it. Until he felt it for the third time and knew she was trying to return to him.

"You've got to make it C.J.," he said, "You see I've got this idea of maybe trying this investigation thing more seriously and I'm going to need your help, you being a legal eagle and all…"

Her eyes twitched.

"And I'll need someone who's got a quick mind like you do and someone who I can depend on and who's better to do that than my best friend in the world?"

She didn't answer him, still lying there still so finally, when weariness hit him, he rested her head on the bed beside her body and closed his eyes trying to will his own strength into her form. He almost gave up for a while when suddenly he felt her hand weakly run her fingers through his hair.

"You're here," she said, without opening her eyes, "how did my test go?"

He sat up and stroked the hair off of her forehead. She finally opened her eyes and frowned at him as his face came into focus.

"Your face…"

He touched his facial stubble where a beard threatened to grow.

"You don't like it?"

She appeared noncommittal.

"I'm just glad you're here," was all she said.

And Matt stayed with her as she recovered from the surgery and the peritonitis, and even when she began to grow restless and wanted to be released from the hospital so that she could return to work.

"The cases must be piling up," she said, "and you must be falling behind."

Matt sat on the edge of her bed in a room filled with flower bouquets and stuffed animals including that of a stuffed frog that she slept with at night after he'd given it to her here. He promised not to tell anyone about that.

"And I've got to start studying for the bar exam again if I didn't pass…"

"I'm sure you did," Matt said, "with flying colors."

She tried another line.

"I'm feeling so much better now," she said, "Surely the doctor…"

"Is not going to release you until the day after tomorrow C.J.," he finished sternly, "So why don't you just concentrate on getting plenty of rest okay?"

She sighed and settled in her bed, resigned to stay there at least until she could find another strategy which worked to get her sprung.

"Oh but I did bring you something," he said, mischievously.

That piqued her curiosity.

"What is it," she asked.

He pulled out a couple bags which emitted delicious aromas. C.J. thought she smelled some amazing pizza.

"I brought you some lunch," he said, "and cleared it with your doctor."

He handed her a pizza on a paper plate and she inhaled it before even taking a bite of what she knew already would be spectacular.

"Who's it from?"

"The woman who owns the restaurant where we were at," he said, "Rosa Novelli but she says we can call her Mama."

C.J. smiled.

"That sounds nice."

"She helped save her life when she called her son on the radio he left her," Matt said.

C.J. furrowed her brow.

"You mean…"

A sound interrupted them and they saw Novelli enter the room tailed by his mother, who appeared to be lecturing him about not siring enough children or something like that.

"But Mama, my wife would kill me if I suggested such a thing," he said, "After four sons, she put her foot down."

"Oh yeah that's what you say," Rosa said, "but she tells me she always wanted a daughter."

Novelli's eyes widened.

"She never told me that…"

Rosa shook his head.

"Look how rude you're being talking in front of this nice married couple…"

Novelli tried to suppress a laugh.

"Mama, they're not married," he said, "She's a lawyer who works for him and he's a private investigator who mucks up all my crime scenes."

Rosa looked at them a bit shocked.

"You mean…"

C.J. looked totally confused.

"What Houston," he said, "You told her we were married?"

Matt hedged, feeling trapped in a room where the estrogen contingent had begun to take control.

"Well actually C.J…"

But her laughter interrupted him and he stopped talking as she asked the Novellis, mother and son, to join them for lunch. Matt started to protest and Novelli rolled his eyes but both women kept their men in line.

Matt tried not to grumble while eating his pizza and his efforts made C.J. chuckle even though it still hurt a bit for her to laugh.

"Oh lighten up Houston," she said, "Who knows, this might be the beginning of a beautiful friendship…"


End file.
